These Boom 2.0 figures provided much of the impetus behind Lee’s tax reforms— they employ a lot of people but sell very few goods, perfect for a gross receipts tax instead of a payroll tax. Conway has bankrolled multiple Lee endeavors (and many other things—see page 94 for the full sweep), and in return has netted favorable policies for portfolio companies. “The big shift [under Lee] has been to Conway and to people in the tech world,” says David Latterman, Principal at Fall Line Analytics. Chris Daly concurs. “Ed Lee likes things that are cool. And right now, tech is very cool.”

At Lee’s inauguration, Brown informed him that friends were in the room. Surprise, surprise: Brown’s friends, like Kay and longtime Room 200 gatekeeper Kawa, are now Lee’s friends too, and Kawa may even outlast Lee’s administration. Other appointments nearly guaranteed to live beyond Lee’s term—Harlan Kelly to lead the PUC and Naomi Kelly to lead the Office of the City Administrator—have gone, tellingly, to Brown loyalists.

There’s plenty of fuel for a conspiracy fire: Friends of Pak bankrolled the “Run Ed Run” campaign, and Pearce, who ran it, continues to win loads of consulting work. Yeung, a neophyte with little governing experience, is nonetheless rumored to be a future supervisor appointee, and Ho’s army of volunteers is frequently deployed to aid Lee’s allies. For Pak, Lee represents something of an endgame: She knows that her sway over the mayor’s office will never be as strong as it is while Lee is its occupant.